Council to ballot membership on amended proposal for new Charter
Members of Royal Pharmaceutical Society are to be balloted later this month on a revised version of the Council's proposal for a new Charter. The revised version will be published in full next week, with
an article explaining the changes, in a pull-out section of The
Pharmaceutical Journal. A summary of the main changes to
the draft new Charter appears on p68.
Some of the changes that the Council wishes to propose to the Privy Council
arise from concerns expressed by members. Others are changes proposed
by the Privy Council itself, which the Council has agreed to accept.
Ballot papers and supporting materials will be sent out on or around
July 16. The ballot will ask members whether or not they approve of the
revised version of the draft new Charter. The Society will also establish
an e-mail address for members who wish to raise points
or ask questions.
The decision to revise the draft Charter and ballot the membership was
made at a special
Council meeting on 30 June. This followed a two-day
strategy meeting at which further consideration was given to the wording
of the draft Charter that has been in the hands of the Privy Council
since December 2003.
The Privy Council was informed after the Council’s meeting on 8
and 9 June that, without prejudicing its ability to withdraw its Charter
petition, the Council wished to submit changes to the draft Charter after
further consideration by the Council and the membership (PJ, 19 June,
p775).
When the matter of the Charter was considered by the Council at its special
meeting, it had before it a revised version of the draft Charter containing
all the changes the Council had discussed and approved during its strategy
meeting. Asking the Council to accept the document, the President said
that he hoped the decision would be swift and unanimous.
The President proposed that the Council should take the revised draft
to the membership as its recommended or preferred Charter.
A vote was then taken. There were 21 votes for the proposal and no votes
against. Sultan Dajani abstained.
Michael Schofield reported that Bob Michell (who was absent because he
was attending the first meeting of a new NHS trust) would have wished
to support the proposal.
The President thanked the Council for their hard work. He also thanked
Robert Bulling, of Allen & Overy (an expert in
the law relating to chartered bodies) and members of the Society’s
staff for their
assistance.
Later, closing the meeting, the President reminded the Council that they
were bound by the code of conduct for Council members. Following the
declaration they had all signed regarding corporate governance, any Council
members who chose to speak out against the agreements they had made would
need to make a declaration now.
No Council members made such a declaration.
Statement by the immediate past president
After the Council had made its decision to ballot the membership
on a revised draft new Charter, Gill Hawksworth, as immediate
past president, made the following statement :
“I am very pleased to say that when I, as president, supported by
the previous vice-president and treasurer, suggested a way forward — a
window of opportunity to save the Charter — at the last Council
meeting, I could only hope that the issues that separated Council
colleagues could be reconciled to allow us to complete our modernisation
work and the Charter in time before the Section 60 Order was sent
out to consultation. I am grateful that Council colleagues used
the time well and thank them for agreeing with me that this was
and has
been achievable. The profession can now move forward to the next
stage of the process. I am proud that I was able to contribute
this solution as my last duty as president.”
The President said that he endorsed Dr Hawksworth’s comments
and thought it was an important statement. He was sure that all
Council members would share his view that thanks were due to Dr
Hawksworth
for her work. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal